Bronny James scores 12 points as Lakers beat Atlanta, dropping them to 0-3 in NBA Summer League

Tonight was supposed to be a nationally televised Summer League showdown between this year’s top draft pick, Zaccharie Risacher, and the Lakers’ two high-profile draft picks, Dalton Knecht and Bronny James.

Only one of those players actually played tonight.

This game lost some of its luster before kickoff when it was announced that Risacher and Knecht would not play. Atlanta was also without key players like Kobe Bufkin, Dylan Windler and Nikola Durisic. The Hawks were going to need some stronger players tonight if they were going to pull out a win.

While those players didn’t play, this Summer League turned out to be a solid Summer League that came down to the final seconds. The Lakers led for most of the first half, but the Hawks came back in the third quarter, scoring 31 points. After playing their best offensive quarter, the Hawks ended up playing their worst in the final quarter. Atlanta scored just 14 points and couldn’t make a shot before the buzzer and the Lakers won 87-86. The loss dropped the Hawks to 0-3 in Summer League and they will have a chance to get a win on Friday against the Bulls.

The bad news that came out of this match was that striker Mouhamed Gueye had to leave the match prematurely and was subsequently ruled out due to a hip contusion.

Here’s a recap of tonight’s game.

With Risacher and Windler out, the Hawks started Keaton Wallace and Emmitt Matthews Jr. in their place.

The hawks:

G-Keaton Wallace

G-Emmitt Matthews Jr

F-Moses Wood

F- Mouhamed Gueye

C-Rob Baker

It wasn’t a great start for the Hawks. The Lakers opened the game on a 12-2 run, including four points from Bronny James. The Hawks quickly rebounded and cut the deficit to 12-10. Five of those eight points came from Gueye, who made a basket after fumbled the ball in transition. The rest of the game was tight, and the first quarter ended with the Lakers leading by one point (21-20). Miles Norris came off the bench to lead the Hawks with six points, while Gueye and Wood each scored five.

Offensively, the Hawks had a rough start to the second quarter, scoring just four points in the first three and a half minutes. The Lakers weren’t much better, but led 28-24 at the first timeout of the quarter.

The rest of the quarter was scored by James. James has been under the microscope during Summer League and has struggled to score, but he had his best half in the first half of tonight’s game against the Hawks, scoring nine points and leading all scorers. The Lakers led the Hawks 44-41 at halftime.

The Hawks started the second half strong, however, hitting three three-pointers in the first 90 seconds to take a 50-44 lead. The Hawks eventually started the quarter on an 11-0 run before the Lakers scored.

The Hawks’ three-point shooting was fantastic to start the second half and after the Hawks’ 11-0 run to start the quarter, they were 11-25 from three-point range. Atlanta had five players in double figures in the third quarter (Wallace, Baker, Wood, Gueye and Joiner).

The fourth quarter went to the Lakers’ advantage. They held Atlanta to just 14 points in the quarter and won the game 87-86.

For Atlanta, Jarkel Joiner and Rob Baker led the way with 17 points each and continued their impressive Summer League. Baker had a rough first game but has played well offensively in the last two games. This was Joiner’s best offensive game of the summer. Wallace (13), Gueye (10) and Wood (10) led the Hawks in scoring tonight. Atlanta shot 40 percent from the field and 37 percent from three-point range. After a great game Sunday, EJ Liddell scored just four points on 1-8 shooting.

The Lakers shot 44 percent from the field and 33 percent from three-point range. Castleton nearly had a triple-double with 17 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists. James and Blake Hinson were the only other Lakers to reach double figures.

Atlanta will face Chicago at 6:00 p.m. EST on Friday night. Their final NBA Summer League game will be on Saturday against the Knicks, which will also take place at 6:00 p.m.